The 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival concluded on May 23, with some of the world’s most celebrated filmmakers and rising talents taking home top honors. This year’s jury was led by acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook and included actors, directors and screenwriters from around the globe, including Demi Moore, Ruth Negga, Chloé Zhao and Stellan Skarsgård.
Among the 22 films competing this year, the coveted Palme d’Or went to FJORD, directed by Cristian Mungiu. The Grand Prix was awarded to MINOTAUR from Russian filmmaker Andreï Zviaguintsev.
The Best Director Prize was shared by Spanish filmmaking duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for LA BOLA NEGRA, alongside Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski for FATHERLAND.
French filmmaker Emmanuel Marre earned Best Screenplay for A MAN OF HIS TIME, while the Jury Prize went to DAS GETRÄUMTE ABENTEUER (THE DREAMED ADVENTURE) directed by German filmmaker Valeska Grisebach.
In the acting categories, actresses Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto shared the Best Performance for an Actress award for their roles in ALL OF A SUDDEN, directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Best Performance for an Actor was jointly awarded to Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne for COWARD, directed by Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont.
The Short Film Palme d’Or went to PARA LOS CONTRINCANTES (FOR THE OPPONENTS) by Argentine director Federico Luis.
In the Un Certain Regard section, Austrian filmmaker Sandra Wollner won the top prize for EVERYTIME. The Jury Prize went to ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG by Nepali filmmaker Abinash Bikram Shah, while the Special Jury Prize was awarded to IRON BOY from French director Louis Clichy.
Actor Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset received the Un Certain Regard Best Actor award for CONGO BOY, directed by Rafiki Fariala. The Best Actress award was shared by Marina de Tavira, Daniela Marín Navarro and Mariangel Villegas for SIEMPRE SOY TU ANIMAL MATERNO, directed by Costa Rican filmmaker Valentina Maurel.
The Caméra d’Or, honoring the best first feature film, went to BEN’IMANA by Rwandan filmmaker Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo.
The festival also celebrated emerging student filmmakers in the La Cinef category. First Prize went to LASER-GATO (Laser-Cat) by Lucas Acher from New York University. Second Prize was awarded to SILENT VOICES by Nadine Misong Jin from Columbia University.
The joint Third Prize winners included ALDRIG NOK (Never Enough) by Julius Lagoutte Larsen from La Fémis, and GROWING STONES, FLYING PAPERS by Roozbeh Gezerseh and Soraya Shamsi from Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf.
